1969 Ducati 350 Scrambler Restoration
1969 Ducati Scrambler Restoration:
By Ted Clough
Member Bevelheads, Motoscrubs, USDesmo, Wild Ducs, MVAgusta.net, Aprilia F1, and way too many other online forums and clubs....
Now, before you get all excited, or you say - "Hey that's MY bike!" that picture above is what my goal is for the final result of what you will read about below.....I don't think I can get the alloy polished quite like that, but going to give it a shot...Read on.....
A Little History:
So, back to the Present....
So, those are the "Before" pictures. I was pretty excited, as I drove home to Atlanta from Tennessee! As it turned out, this was the Thursday before Bike Week started, so there were also a lot of motorcycles and motorcyclists trailering bikes down I-75 that day. Got some thumbs up from people, but I'm not sure if they were saying "Cool bike" or Yea, take that thing to a swap meet in Daytona and get rid of it.....
When I got home, I unloaded and brought it into my shop, took a bunch of pictures, and began to tally up what needed to be done.
It didn't have a battery, so I didn't know if it would run. We had turned it over and it was free and would run through the gears. The tank was dry, not rusted. I took the carb bowl off and was pleased to see that it was bone dry, with no evidence of gunk or varnish, so I was hopeful that I would not have fuel system problems, although I planned to rebuild the carb anyway. The bike actually looked like it had been run for a few years, then put away and not touched. The front rim was fine, the rear pretty pitted chrome (Raedelli) Just for fun, I hooked up a lawn mower battery to see if it would fire up. Put some gas in the float bowl and kicked away - nothing. Checked what wiring I could get to, but gave up pretty quick. The lights did work, both head and tail. I had heard from a restorer at the Amelia Concours that some bikes had the ignition wired through the taillight bulb, so if that was out, it would not run. Figured I would sort it all out as I took it apart. Only later did I realize I had just hooked up a 12V battery to a 6V system. Oh well - learn as you go. Hopefully I didn't fry the regulator already!...
So, time to start tearing it apart. As I said, I had done this before, with a 750GT, so I knew what I was getting into. This had to be easier, tight? One less cylinder, lighter weight? Actually it was. The most amazing thing, to me, was that I didn't encounter a single frozen fastener! When I had looked the bike over while considering buying it, one thing I noticed was the distinct lack of evidence that it had been tampered with extensively or abused by previous owners. Other than some strange pull-back handlebars, everything was surprisingly unmolested. No rounded fasteners, little rust, etc. One thing I did do was take a ton of pictures - learned this the first time - nothing like a "before" shot to remember routing of wires and cables, order of fittings and washers, etc.
I also labelled all the wiring leads as to where they attached. Now the wiring on this thing was ridiculously simple, but, you never know - sometimes it can be months before you get back to putting it all together, and, well, lets just say my memory is not what it used to be.....
Of course, this is where you start to find things that may be a trifle "suspect". Pretty good dents in both fenders, a tear in the rear fender, lots of pretty frayed wiring going to the points, a blown fuse in the headlight shell. But wait - maybe that wire to the taillight just chafed where it went through the rear fender, blew the fuse, and the owner just simply gave up trying to figure out why it wouldn't run and parked it for the last 35 years? So maybe it really only had, like 500 miles on it? It could happen.....At least it wasn't parked outside......
There's a blown fuse in there:
Anyway, got the wheels off and finally down to the forks and rear suspension. No drama with the rear. The swingarm spindle was a little corroded, but got it out with only a few taps with a hammer and drift. The front forks, not so much. They literally would not budge. I loosened all the pinch bolts and tried everything I knew to no avail. It was like they were welded to the upper tripe clamp. I didn't want to wrap a pipe wrench around the beautiful chrome (totally clean under the boots), and trying to knock them out with a drift wasn't working, so I finally saturated them with penetrating oil and let them sit for a few days. Applied heat also. Finally got them to twist ever so slightly and eventually was able to slowly work them out. Managed to find "Most" of the ball bearings as they were subsequently freed and made their ways into the most remote recesses of my shop floor...Was expecting to find some nasty gunk inside the forks, but it was surprisingly normal-looking oil, not the milky goo I expected.
So, now for the fun part. Calling around to local cycle shops and dealers, I pretty soon was able to find an amazingly large number of people to help with the stuff that was beyond my capabilities some nasty, some technical parts - blasting the frame and swingarm bits, fixing the dents in the tank, etc. I tried one of those glue-on-a-puller kits, and it did work a little, but I needed professional help to really get the tank done right. Talking to the painter, he also advised me that I would never be able to polish the chrome that had been under the original paint (the tank had been stripped to bare chrome), so I decided to go back to the original paint scheme of partially painted tank with the chromed sidepanels.
The next fun part was online shopping. The last time I did this, there were only a few sources for old bevel-drive Ducati parts. I had actually gotten a lot of tidbits from Australia. I was glad to see Road and Race was still around, as well as Gowanloch's, but this time the Aussie dollar is much stronger and shipping is a bitch, so closer sources were more desirable. Well, Look at that! a little searching on Google and Ebay and now there are several suppliers here in the US and also in England and Italy. Also, many of the unobtanium parts are magically available again, especially the stuff that deteriorates over time, like rubber boots, grommets, fork seals, and other miscellaneous trim pieces. I am already getting much more familiar with my UPS and FedEx guys.....So far I have found:
Footpeg rubbers
Kickstart rubber
Brake and clutch adjuster rubbers
Stainless spoke sets...
Handlebar
Clutch cable
The internet is a wonderful thing....
SO, while waiting for the frame to get blasted, and the tank guy to do his thing, I have a LOT of cleaning and polishing to do. Also got to do the wheels. Part of the deal on the bike was two complete Akront rims, both with tires and hubs, front and back.
The rims on the bike were Raedelli chrome, probably original, but the rear was very rusted. The front was clean. The wheels on the bike were 18" rear, 19" front. I didn't realize it, but the Akront rims were both 18", and both appear to be WM2(?), 2.15" rims. I took one tire off, and have to get the other off to verify the rim width. So, I have to make a decision on whether to try and find another 19" rim to make the front correct. Hopefully will be able to sell the leftover hubs on Ebay to recoup some of the cost. The spokes on the Akronts were severely rusted. I tried penetrating oil, let it sit overnight, but when I tried to unscrew them, I broke a couple, so I eventually just got out the bolt cutter and went to town. The Raedelli rear has stainless spokes, and look good, so hopefully I will be able to get them out easier.
So, where was I? Oh yea, lots of cleaning and polishing going on, along with the continuous search for odd bits.
Top triple tree looking better:
Before and after of hub:
Fame in the "paint shop" for primer:
More pieces in the "paint booth":
Finally got all the old tires off their rims, so next big project, after getting two rims cleaned and polished, as well as both hubs done, is to try and lace up the wheels with stainless spokes. I've got the you tube videos, and online guides, and one of those cheapie Harbor Freight wheel balancers, so stand by. This should be interesting.....
April 12, 2013:
OK, I'm, back - Work and life keep getting in the way of the fun stuff!
It's been fun waiting to see what the UPS and Fedex guys will show up with each couple of days. I've got all the painted bits ready to go. When I was putting primer on the frame, discovered a crack in the rear subframe. That led me to discover, only a short diatance away, a great welder - one of those guys who can do a quick weld/grind job on just about anything and have you out of there in 20 minutes for $20. LOVE to find those guys! Same thing while looking for an easy way to get all those tires off the rims. I took one tire off with tire irons, and it was a pain in the butt! They are so old and dry, they were stiff as hell. Called around to normal bike shops and everyone wanted $25-30 per tire just to take them off. Found an independent shop just a mile away that specializes in older Jap bikes, and they whipped the other 3 tires off in a few minutes for small change...I'll be back there again....
Anyway, here is where I am now - another "Before" shot: I love these pictures. When I was doing my 750GT, my neighbor, who had a Silver Wing, and who barely could manage an oil change, came over, looked at all the parts scattered around my garage, on the bench, in boxes and said: "You really think you will ever get it together again?" I said: "Well, I took a bunch of pictures. I've got the parts diagrams and the manuals. I took it apart, so I think I'll be able to figure it out...."
Notice I scored a replica vinyl tool bag off FleaBay. I didn't even think they were available...Also found a used 19" Akront, so I will have correct size wheels. Will put my extra wheels and hubs on EBAY shortly to try and recoup some costs.....Don't really want to add up what this will all cost in the end.....
The rims polished up pretty nicely:
And the engine is ready to go. I haven't done anything to the engine except clean it....I hope it is all OK!
I'm waiting on a spoke set from Buchanan's, and will start the wheel lacing next. I want to have them ready, so I can get a rolling frame complete when I put the motor in the frame. Stay tuned for that adventure....
April 18, 2013
Been away for a few days. A little work, then an awesome track day at Barber Motorsports Park with US Desmo. Wrung the neck of my Aprilia Tuono, while serving as passing dummy for about 1/2 of the Intermediate group....Oh well, as they say, "The older I get, the faster I was..." or something like that.....
Anyway,while waiting for spokes, I started putting frame and motor together:
I was short a couple of those little ball bearings in the steering stem, but was able to find them at a local ACE hardware. Then, while bolting up the frame, found that one of the forward engine mounting plates was broken! Not sure how I missed that when I was taking it apart....Anyway, back to the welder.
The rear wheel on my bike had stainless spokes on a really rusted Radaelli rim, so I salvaged those spokes and am using them on an Akront rim. Spent a few hours this morning doing the initial lacing of the rear wheel. Took a little while, but finally got the pattern right. Haven't even started the tightening/straightening/truing process yet....From everything I have read and heard, I fully expect it to be a nightmare.. More later...
April 29, 2013
All right, I'm back, and I've been busy! That rear wheel was a bitch, but I finally got it to within 1/16" of round, and lined up left/right. Did the front one also, and was more careful to do the initial tightening gradually and sequentially, and didn't have much trouble with it. After the initial tightening, it was pretty much within 1/8 inch of straight, so it was pretty easy to tweak it from there. I got a couple of Dunlop K-70 tires for that vintage look, and actually got them on the rims pretty easily also.
So, now I'm getting pretty excited. Time to start putting the pieces together again. I can actually start to make this look like a motorcycle again! Forks, bars, shocks, hubs wheels and pretty soon I had a rolling chassis....
I was being pretty anal and wire brushing every fastener as I went. It is very rewarding when you get to this stage, and you start to see it come together with all the shiny bits replacing the previously rusted/corroded parts...
Got the handlebars on, and started routing cables and hooking up the controls; I know, that crossbar on the handlebars is not correct, but it is vintage, and I like it - may take it off later....
Have to go look at some reference pictures and see where all those cable are really supposed to go. Also getting ready to redo some parts of the wiring loom. A couple of the wires were frayed, or very brittle, so will have to replace them.
Now I'm waiting on the paint guy to do my tank. Evidently I gave him the impression that I wasn't in a big rush when I found him (4 weeks ago) so he's still a couple of weeks from done and has a vacation coming up.....Oh well - true artists are like that, right? Worth the wait? I've got the wiring and seat to do in the meantime, and my job does also interfere occasionally....
May 7, 2013:
Dropped off the seat at a local upholstery guy last week to put some new foam and a new cover on it. Sticking with the original shape/profile and pattern. Should be ready soon.
Well, I'm at an impasse. Hooked up all the wiring to a new battery and I have a bad short somewhere. It immediately starts to fry that top fuse in the headlight and eventually the fuse in the battery line. Need to trace that wiring and see what it is hooked up to. I've been all through the headlight wiring and everything else I can think of, and suspect I fried the voltage regulator when I hooked up that 12V battery initially. Stay tuned - going to seek help on the forums and do some electrical troubleshooting research online.
June 13, 2013:
Took some time off for a vacation - I can now highly recommend South Africa, if you are so inclined...- but I digress....
I was able to rectify the electrical gremlins, with the help of some of the Guru's at Moto-Scrubs. I had taken "before" pictures of most of the wiring, and labelled most of the wires as I took them off, but I did manage to get one wire from the headlight hooked to the coil instead of grounding to the frame. Corrected that, and no more short. Also got the correct bulbs and fuses for inside the headlight shell, so it is all ready to go.
Another item I discovered to be NOT original is my headlight bezel arrangement. Again, Bob at Moto-scrubs pointed out that my dual-bezel arrangement (see picture below) is definitely not standard. Will have to see what I can do about that.
You might notice that I also got my seat back. The upholsterer did an average job - the stitching is not all that uniform, but the shape appears right. After much fiddling, I was able to get those alloy strips re-installed, as well as the Ducati badge, so coming along......
So, now I'm getting really excited! Ran over it really quickly to make sure I had tightened down the axle nuts, handlebar, etc. Rolled it outside and put some gas in the tank. Then I started kicking, and kicking, and kicking..... Rest....kick some more. Fiddle with the choke. Fiddle with the compression release....Kick some more - finally, it catches, and RUNS! Rode around the yard, running through gears....It actually works! You have to understand how amazing this is, as I didn't do anything at all to the engine, except change the oil, plug, condenser, points and coil. I didn't even move the timing!
Anyway, guess I have to go register it now, so I can ride it around and show it off at some bike nights!.....
Notice the sweaty shirt from all the kicking...
That's Desmo the dog trying to get into the shot - yea, I know.....
Now, for all you trainspotters out there: I'll give you a head start on all the things that are incorrect:
Headlight bezel
Rims are Akront, stainless spokes
Taillight some British thing
Handlebar cross-brace
What else?
Got to thank all the suppliers who keep coming up with parts for these old toys:
Bevel Heaven - Thanks, Steve
Guzzino
Buchanan's
Classic Ducati.com
Speed Moto Company
Southeastern Motorsports - Donny (Paint)
I think there are others, but I'll get depressed if I look at all the receipts.
Also, couldn't have done it without some helpful hints and the resources available online through the Moto-Scrubs and Bevelheads mailing lists. Thanks, guys!
I guess this means back to Craigslist for another project..........Hope you enjoyed my story.
Update, about a year later.....I found I was not riding this bike very much, and felt bad just looking at it in my basement. Seemed like prices were going up, so I put it on Ebay. Put it in an auction format, with a $5K reserve...it started out slowly, then jumped to the reserve suddenly and stayed there. Turned out buyer was an airline pilot from Asia - Hong Kong, if I remember! Went back and forth with emails, but he paid me fairly quickly. It took him some time to arrange for the international import paperwork, but eventually I dropped it at his airlines' cargo hangar at the ATL airport, and off it went!
Of course, almost exactly at that time, Ducati came out with their new Scrambler line, with the base model looking almost exactly like this! Of course I immediately regretted selling - would have been nice to have a matching old/new set! Oh well....
Regards, Ted
A Little History:
Hi there. This is my first attempt at a blog, so bear with me. I just wanted a place to document the process of acquiring, dismantling and restoring my 1969 Ducati Scrambler.
Just for info, I'm a lifelong motorcyclist, having bought my first bike in college. Over the years I have had, in this order, the following bikes:
1972 Suzuki TS185
1972 Triumph Bonneville 750
1973 Triumph Trident
1975 Ducati 750GT
1993 Ducati 900SS
2001 Ducati ST4(run over by a truck)
2004 Aprilia Tuono
2001 Ducati ST4(replacement)
2003 Suzuki DRZ 250
2003 Kawasaki KLX 400
2005 MV Agusta F4-1000
1969 Ducati 350 Scrambler
1969 Ducati 350 Scrambler
You can see I picked up the Italian Moto Lust syndrome there around the mid-90's. It's been a problem ever since. The first Ducati I owned was that 750GT. It was intact, but not nearly correct. I am a fairly competent mechanic, so after riding it for a while, I completely disassembled it, down to the frame, and did an amateur restoration. Cosmetic, shall we say. I stripped and painted the frame myself. The engine ran fine, so I did not go into the internals. I simply wire brushed, cleaned and polished everything. Same with the wheels and most of the controls. I did add some aftermarket rear sets and had the bodywork painted professionally, put it all back together and, amazingly enough, got it running, thank you! I could not have done it without the help of numerous people I found online, most importantly, the Bevelheads mailing list. Literally like having a full- time expert consultant on call.
So, back to the Present....
Anyway having a little time on my hands lately, I started lusting for another similar project. I already still have 4 of those above bikes (ST4,Tuono, MV and KLX), so I didn't, really need to just buy another perfect bike and let it sit around. I was looking for something that was interesting, a little unusual, that was fairly complete and that I could find parts for. An ad for a Ducati Elite showed up on the local Craigslist. It was complete, and I knew those bikes in good condition were growing in value. But the owner wanted too much for my budget. However, he said, I do have some other Ducati singles.....Oh really? Like what? Turns out he is making a small career out of buying up old bikes, selling or parting them out or doing some restorations himself. He sent me some pix of Ducati Scramblers (3), a Diana, as well as a Norton Commando and a couple of other Jap bikes. He had two storage units full of stuff, so one day I drove the 180 or so miles to go "shopping".
Long story short, we loaded one of the Scramblers up, went to his bank to arrange a wire transfer, and Voila, I had my new project.
So, those are the "Before" pictures. I was pretty excited, as I drove home to Atlanta from Tennessee! As it turned out, this was the Thursday before Bike Week started, so there were also a lot of motorcycles and motorcyclists trailering bikes down I-75 that day. Got some thumbs up from people, but I'm not sure if they were saying "Cool bike" or Yea, take that thing to a swap meet in Daytona and get rid of it.....
When I got home, I unloaded and brought it into my shop, took a bunch of pictures, and began to tally up what needed to be done.
It didn't have a battery, so I didn't know if it would run. We had turned it over and it was free and would run through the gears. The tank was dry, not rusted. I took the carb bowl off and was pleased to see that it was bone dry, with no evidence of gunk or varnish, so I was hopeful that I would not have fuel system problems, although I planned to rebuild the carb anyway. The bike actually looked like it had been run for a few years, then put away and not touched. The front rim was fine, the rear pretty pitted chrome (Raedelli) Just for fun, I hooked up a lawn mower battery to see if it would fire up. Put some gas in the float bowl and kicked away - nothing. Checked what wiring I could get to, but gave up pretty quick. The lights did work, both head and tail. I had heard from a restorer at the Amelia Concours that some bikes had the ignition wired through the taillight bulb, so if that was out, it would not run. Figured I would sort it all out as I took it apart. Only later did I realize I had just hooked up a 12V battery to a 6V system. Oh well - learn as you go. Hopefully I didn't fry the regulator already!...
So, time to start tearing it apart. As I said, I had done this before, with a 750GT, so I knew what I was getting into. This had to be easier, tight? One less cylinder, lighter weight? Actually it was. The most amazing thing, to me, was that I didn't encounter a single frozen fastener! When I had looked the bike over while considering buying it, one thing I noticed was the distinct lack of evidence that it had been tampered with extensively or abused by previous owners. Other than some strange pull-back handlebars, everything was surprisingly unmolested. No rounded fasteners, little rust, etc. One thing I did do was take a ton of pictures - learned this the first time - nothing like a "before" shot to remember routing of wires and cables, order of fittings and washers, etc.
I also labelled all the wiring leads as to where they attached. Now the wiring on this thing was ridiculously simple, but, you never know - sometimes it can be months before you get back to putting it all together, and, well, lets just say my memory is not what it used to be.....
Of course, this is where you start to find things that may be a trifle "suspect". Pretty good dents in both fenders, a tear in the rear fender, lots of pretty frayed wiring going to the points, a blown fuse in the headlight shell. But wait - maybe that wire to the taillight just chafed where it went through the rear fender, blew the fuse, and the owner just simply gave up trying to figure out why it wouldn't run and parked it for the last 35 years? So maybe it really only had, like 500 miles on it? It could happen.....At least it wasn't parked outside......
There's a blown fuse in there:
Anyway, got the wheels off and finally down to the forks and rear suspension. No drama with the rear. The swingarm spindle was a little corroded, but got it out with only a few taps with a hammer and drift. The front forks, not so much. They literally would not budge. I loosened all the pinch bolts and tried everything I knew to no avail. It was like they were welded to the upper tripe clamp. I didn't want to wrap a pipe wrench around the beautiful chrome (totally clean under the boots), and trying to knock them out with a drift wasn't working, so I finally saturated them with penetrating oil and let them sit for a few days. Applied heat also. Finally got them to twist ever so slightly and eventually was able to slowly work them out. Managed to find "Most" of the ball bearings as they were subsequently freed and made their ways into the most remote recesses of my shop floor...Was expecting to find some nasty gunk inside the forks, but it was surprisingly normal-looking oil, not the milky goo I expected.
So, now for the fun part. Calling around to local cycle shops and dealers, I pretty soon was able to find an amazingly large number of people to help with the stuff that was beyond my capabilities some nasty, some technical parts - blasting the frame and swingarm bits, fixing the dents in the tank, etc. I tried one of those glue-on-a-puller kits, and it did work a little, but I needed professional help to really get the tank done right. Talking to the painter, he also advised me that I would never be able to polish the chrome that had been under the original paint (the tank had been stripped to bare chrome), so I decided to go back to the original paint scheme of partially painted tank with the chromed sidepanels.
The next fun part was online shopping. The last time I did this, there were only a few sources for old bevel-drive Ducati parts. I had actually gotten a lot of tidbits from Australia. I was glad to see Road and Race was still around, as well as Gowanloch's, but this time the Aussie dollar is much stronger and shipping is a bitch, so closer sources were more desirable. Well, Look at that! a little searching on Google and Ebay and now there are several suppliers here in the US and also in England and Italy. Also, many of the unobtanium parts are magically available again, especially the stuff that deteriorates over time, like rubber boots, grommets, fork seals, and other miscellaneous trim pieces. I am already getting much more familiar with my UPS and FedEx guys.....So far I have found:
Footpeg rubbers
Kickstart rubber
Brake and clutch adjuster rubbers
Stainless spoke sets...
Handlebar
Clutch cable
The internet is a wonderful thing....
SO, while waiting for the frame to get blasted, and the tank guy to do his thing, I have a LOT of cleaning and polishing to do. Also got to do the wheels. Part of the deal on the bike was two complete Akront rims, both with tires and hubs, front and back.
The rims on the bike were Raedelli chrome, probably original, but the rear was very rusted. The front was clean. The wheels on the bike were 18" rear, 19" front. I didn't realize it, but the Akront rims were both 18", and both appear to be WM2(?), 2.15" rims. I took one tire off, and have to get the other off to verify the rim width. So, I have to make a decision on whether to try and find another 19" rim to make the front correct. Hopefully will be able to sell the leftover hubs on Ebay to recoup some of the cost. The spokes on the Akronts were severely rusted. I tried penetrating oil, let it sit overnight, but when I tried to unscrew them, I broke a couple, so I eventually just got out the bolt cutter and went to town. The Raedelli rear has stainless spokes, and look good, so hopefully I will be able to get them out easier.
So, where was I? Oh yea, lots of cleaning and polishing going on, along with the continuous search for odd bits.
Top triple tree looking better:
Before and after of hub:
Fame in the "paint shop" for primer:
More pieces in the "paint booth":
Finally got all the old tires off their rims, so next big project, after getting two rims cleaned and polished, as well as both hubs done, is to try and lace up the wheels with stainless spokes. I've got the you tube videos, and online guides, and one of those cheapie Harbor Freight wheel balancers, so stand by. This should be interesting.....
April 12, 2013:
OK, I'm, back - Work and life keep getting in the way of the fun stuff!
It's been fun waiting to see what the UPS and Fedex guys will show up with each couple of days. I've got all the painted bits ready to go. When I was putting primer on the frame, discovered a crack in the rear subframe. That led me to discover, only a short diatance away, a great welder - one of those guys who can do a quick weld/grind job on just about anything and have you out of there in 20 minutes for $20. LOVE to find those guys! Same thing while looking for an easy way to get all those tires off the rims. I took one tire off with tire irons, and it was a pain in the butt! They are so old and dry, they were stiff as hell. Called around to normal bike shops and everyone wanted $25-30 per tire just to take them off. Found an independent shop just a mile away that specializes in older Jap bikes, and they whipped the other 3 tires off in a few minutes for small change...I'll be back there again....
Anyway, here is where I am now - another "Before" shot: I love these pictures. When I was doing my 750GT, my neighbor, who had a Silver Wing, and who barely could manage an oil change, came over, looked at all the parts scattered around my garage, on the bench, in boxes and said: "You really think you will ever get it together again?" I said: "Well, I took a bunch of pictures. I've got the parts diagrams and the manuals. I took it apart, so I think I'll be able to figure it out...."
Notice I scored a replica vinyl tool bag off FleaBay. I didn't even think they were available...Also found a used 19" Akront, so I will have correct size wheels. Will put my extra wheels and hubs on EBAY shortly to try and recoup some costs.....Don't really want to add up what this will all cost in the end.....
The rims polished up pretty nicely:
And the engine is ready to go. I haven't done anything to the engine except clean it....I hope it is all OK!
I'm waiting on a spoke set from Buchanan's, and will start the wheel lacing next. I want to have them ready, so I can get a rolling frame complete when I put the motor in the frame. Stay tuned for that adventure....
April 18, 2013
Been away for a few days. A little work, then an awesome track day at Barber Motorsports Park with US Desmo. Wrung the neck of my Aprilia Tuono, while serving as passing dummy for about 1/2 of the Intermediate group....Oh well, as they say, "The older I get, the faster I was..." or something like that.....
Anyway,while waiting for spokes, I started putting frame and motor together:
I was short a couple of those little ball bearings in the steering stem, but was able to find them at a local ACE hardware. Then, while bolting up the frame, found that one of the forward engine mounting plates was broken! Not sure how I missed that when I was taking it apart....Anyway, back to the welder.
The rear wheel on my bike had stainless spokes on a really rusted Radaelli rim, so I salvaged those spokes and am using them on an Akront rim. Spent a few hours this morning doing the initial lacing of the rear wheel. Took a little while, but finally got the pattern right. Haven't even started the tightening/straightening/truing process yet....From everything I have read and heard, I fully expect it to be a nightmare.. More later...
April 29, 2013
All right, I'm back, and I've been busy! That rear wheel was a bitch, but I finally got it to within 1/16" of round, and lined up left/right. Did the front one also, and was more careful to do the initial tightening gradually and sequentially, and didn't have much trouble with it. After the initial tightening, it was pretty much within 1/8 inch of straight, so it was pretty easy to tweak it from there. I got a couple of Dunlop K-70 tires for that vintage look, and actually got them on the rims pretty easily also.
So, now I'm getting pretty excited. Time to start putting the pieces together again. I can actually start to make this look like a motorcycle again! Forks, bars, shocks, hubs wheels and pretty soon I had a rolling chassis....
I was being pretty anal and wire brushing every fastener as I went. It is very rewarding when you get to this stage, and you start to see it come together with all the shiny bits replacing the previously rusted/corroded parts...
Got the handlebars on, and started routing cables and hooking up the controls; I know, that crossbar on the handlebars is not correct, but it is vintage, and I like it - may take it off later....
Have to go look at some reference pictures and see where all those cable are really supposed to go. Also getting ready to redo some parts of the wiring loom. A couple of the wires were frayed, or very brittle, so will have to replace them.
Now I'm waiting on the paint guy to do my tank. Evidently I gave him the impression that I wasn't in a big rush when I found him (4 weeks ago) so he's still a couple of weeks from done and has a vacation coming up.....Oh well - true artists are like that, right? Worth the wait? I've got the wiring and seat to do in the meantime, and my job does also interfere occasionally....
May 7, 2013:
Dropped off the seat at a local upholstery guy last week to put some new foam and a new cover on it. Sticking with the original shape/profile and pattern. Should be ready soon.
Well, I'm at an impasse. Hooked up all the wiring to a new battery and I have a bad short somewhere. It immediately starts to fry that top fuse in the headlight and eventually the fuse in the battery line. Need to trace that wiring and see what it is hooked up to. I've been all through the headlight wiring and everything else I can think of, and suspect I fried the voltage regulator when I hooked up that 12V battery initially. Stay tuned - going to seek help on the forums and do some electrical troubleshooting research online.
June 13, 2013:
Took some time off for a vacation - I can now highly recommend South Africa, if you are so inclined...- but I digress....
I was able to rectify the electrical gremlins, with the help of some of the Guru's at Moto-Scrubs. I had taken "before" pictures of most of the wiring, and labelled most of the wires as I took them off, but I did manage to get one wire from the headlight hooked to the coil instead of grounding to the frame. Corrected that, and no more short. Also got the correct bulbs and fuses for inside the headlight shell, so it is all ready to go.
Another item I discovered to be NOT original is my headlight bezel arrangement. Again, Bob at Moto-scrubs pointed out that my dual-bezel arrangement (see picture below) is definitely not standard. Will have to see what I can do about that.
You might notice that I also got my seat back. The upholsterer did an average job - the stitching is not all that uniform, but the shape appears right. After much fiddling, I was able to get those alloy strips re-installed, as well as the Ducati badge, so coming along......
Just checked in with the painter - again - and he is still working. He did all the metal repair on the fenders and tank, and has the fenders done, so still waiting on the tank. I was relieved to find he got the color I requested right (that yellow), and he is doing an awesome job, so can't wait to see the tank. It is really going to make the bike POP when I get that all installed!
After I got the wiring all sorted, I was trying to insure I had a decent spark. With a fully charged battery, I could never get a healthy spark, so I started trying to isolate a reason: In the end, I have replaced the spark plug, coil, condenser, and points. As expected, now I have the elusive spark! Pretty sure it was either the condenser or coil, as the points were doing their thing, and the plug appeared OK.
So, just waiting for the bodywork, so I can finish routing the wires and cabling and put some gas in it and see if it will fire up! Stay tuned......
June 24, 2013
WHOO-HOO! Just got the body work back from the painter. Been doing all the little fiddly work - routing cable, adjusting adjusters, checking connections. So today assembled the fenders and tank and VOILA! - I have a bike!
So, now I'm getting really excited! Ran over it really quickly to make sure I had tightened down the axle nuts, handlebar, etc. Rolled it outside and put some gas in the tank. Then I started kicking, and kicking, and kicking..... Rest....kick some more. Fiddle with the choke. Fiddle with the compression release....Kick some more - finally, it catches, and RUNS! Rode around the yard, running through gears....It actually works! You have to understand how amazing this is, as I didn't do anything at all to the engine, except change the oil, plug, condenser, points and coil. I didn't even move the timing!
Anyway, guess I have to go register it now, so I can ride it around and show it off at some bike nights!.....
Notice the sweaty shirt from all the kicking...
Now, for all you trainspotters out there: I'll give you a head start on all the things that are incorrect:
Headlight bezel
Rims are Akront, stainless spokes
Taillight some British thing
Handlebar cross-brace
What else?
Got to thank all the suppliers who keep coming up with parts for these old toys:
Bevel Heaven - Thanks, Steve
Guzzino
Buchanan's
Classic Ducati.com
Speed Moto Company
Southeastern Motorsports - Donny (Paint)
I think there are others, but I'll get depressed if I look at all the receipts.
Also, couldn't have done it without some helpful hints and the resources available online through the Moto-Scrubs and Bevelheads mailing lists. Thanks, guys!
I guess this means back to Craigslist for another project..........Hope you enjoyed my story.
Update, about a year later.....I found I was not riding this bike very much, and felt bad just looking at it in my basement. Seemed like prices were going up, so I put it on Ebay. Put it in an auction format, with a $5K reserve...it started out slowly, then jumped to the reserve suddenly and stayed there. Turned out buyer was an airline pilot from Asia - Hong Kong, if I remember! Went back and forth with emails, but he paid me fairly quickly. It took him some time to arrange for the international import paperwork, but eventually I dropped it at his airlines' cargo hangar at the ATL airport, and off it went!
Of course, almost exactly at that time, Ducati came out with their new Scrambler line, with the base model looking almost exactly like this! Of course I immediately regretted selling - would have been nice to have a matching old/new set! Oh well....
Regards, Ted
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